1. Field of the Invention
The vehicle wash apparatus of the present invention relates to a relatively compact device for automatically washing a vehicle parked in a washing stall.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous different car wash devices have been proposed for automatically washing a vehicle. Typical of such prior art car washing devices are tunnel type washing devices, where a car to be washed is towed along a pathway while side brushes wash the front sides and rear of the car while a top brush simultaneously washes the hood, top and trunk of the car. Such devices are desirable for wash installations having a high demand, the relatively substantial initial investment being justified by the high rate at which cars may be washed thereby.
Other car wash devices have been proposed which are relatively compact for installation in, as for example, gas stations washing stalls where the limited space will not permit tunnel type washes and the relatively low volume of washes will not justify the investment normally associated with tunnel type wash devices. Rollover washing devices have been proposed for such applications and are typically in the form of an arch frame carrying a top brush from the free ends of top arms mounted at their respective one ends from a horizontal pivot shaft for washing the hood, top and trunk of the car as such arch passes thereover. The side brushes are typically carried from the upper portion of the arch by means of a parallelogramatic arrangement mounting the side brushes on the lower extremity thereof and urgable inwardly to wash the front, sides and rear of a car parked under the arch. This arrangement, while being satisfactory in performance, suffers the shortcoming that the parallelogramatic side arm mounts are relatively expensive to manufacture and assemble and require a relatively large number of control switches and control elements for automatic operation thereof, thus rendering the initial investment and maintenance costs somewhat prohibitive for low volume installations.